Burrows and Badgers - Freebeasts of the Well of Ashes vs Barbaric Pedestrians and an Der Vilk's mob - Capture the Paychest

Tucked into their usual nook round a glowing fire, cups, flagons and goblets perched between platters
of food, the Freebeasts were not in their usual jubulant mood.
"Look, all I said was the pay chest was hidden in the watchtower, right in the middle of town at Mortsville, I just suggested we could swoop in and get it," Big Ouseux the sparrow adjusted his rackish new eye patch.
"Yeah, and two other bands had also found out about it, The Barbaric Pedestrians and Van Der Vilk's mob, both full of heavy hitters," Bowie the cat grinned.
"I miss the fierce insanity of Berry Town, our dear departed shrew fighter." Lady Door looked into her drink.
The other's shared knowing glances, it was more than his combat prowess the Dormouse missed, the two had been firm friends since they had been liberated from slavery.
"I thought we had another otter due to come on board?" Abi the Shrew asked, twisting and dancing her throwing knife blade between her paws "That would have solved a lot of our problems."
"Delayed by floods." L'Otter shrugged.
"Recalled by the Mother Church I heard!" Red, the ex-Witch hunting mouse added.
"Hope we got a refund!" Snappy the squirrel muttered.


"The Pedestrians had the same idea as us, send in their avians, except theirs were raptors, with massively better awareness and eyesight." Snappy Squirrel steepled her paws over her goblet of
rowanberry wine. "It was only a matter of time before Kyle the Kite spotted it."
"Hey, we were trying our best!" Big Ouseux threw an empty nut shell at the squirrel.
"Watching Honey get caught up on the fence was amusing though," Red the mouse laughed.


The squirrel archer looked around the group, grinning, "With two failed searches each, I knew I had to get my snout in there, and bingo, first search, I did, there it was!"
"I swear I looked there!" Batty the bat shrugged, as Red elbowed him in the ribs, giggling. "But being charged by a wildcat was kind of distracting."
"So was being hit by Van de Vilk, a greatsword wielding otter." Big Ouseux shuddered, "through the blood I could see the rest of his gang moving up fast."
"Through the bullet holes through your feathers, I could see him too!" Snappy laughed.


Red noted, as he swigged from his thimble of beer, "Unfortunately, Honey freed herself,"
"She didn't like being hit by arrows or a couple of throwing knives, sent her berserk, really foaming at the mouth!" Abi leaned back on her chair, tossing a grub in the air and gulping it down,
 

"I had her in my sights too," Bowie added languidly, slowly sipping from a goblet. "Was convinced she would fall for my charms, before I stuck my blade in her."
 

"I started dragging the chest away," Snappy continued. "but there was a hell a lot of traffic in the way, especially with you being smacked around by that otter Van Der Vilk, Ouseux."
"Glad I slipped away from that wildcat, I definitely needed my healing potion and L'Otter's healing spells." Batty rubbed several new scars on his wings.


"Gee, thanks, because that's when the Wildcat turned on me!" Abi groaned.
"Red and I teamed up on Squizzel and Toad," Lady Door the mouse stirred her tea carefully, pinky extended. "That was quite some hit from Honey, Bowie. You okay?"
"Think one of my nine lives may be on a sabbatical." The tabby grinned, "my charms obviously had no effect on her."
"She knows you too well old friend!" L'Otter grinned. Wine, food and warmth was lightening the mood.
 

"Nice to see Van Der Vilk having a go at Badger, tough opponent." L'Otter shook her head. "Squeaker was really being hit by Kyle the Kite, as Snappy was slowly heading away with the cash."
Everyone looked round at the empty seat and cup where the mouse assassin would have been.
 

"That Badger was being set upon by an Der Vilk, Maynard Witlow the mouse, Sir Archibold Hastings and Bramble the Squirrel, that thing is TOUGH, it was just shrugging off hits left right and centre!" Red shook his head.
"We need to get one of those!" Bowie muttered.


Snappy took a bite of nut, swallowed it down and added "I high tailed it round the corner with the chest, thanks to a well timed 'haste' spell..."
"No problems, good thing your tail is always high," L'Otter grinned, "about the only spell of mine that actually worked all day"
"Weird, mine all fluffed too," Lady Door added, "Maybe the Great Hall had a magical dampener? All the other mages were getting spells off all the time."
"Bad workmouse blames her tool!" Batty winked.
"I was about to say..." Snappy retorted, living up to her name, "nearly straight into the waiting wings of D'Owl and Kyle the Kite."
"Who would have thought having two raptors on side would cause us so many issues?" Batty giggled, "flapping over buildings to await your escape, who would do a thing like that!


"The only thing I could think to do was drag the chest into the house, but they soon blocked all the exits, and were coming in, I tried getting it out to you L'Otter, but it was too heavy to drag to the window while trying to block a door to stop a kite coming in too." Snappy shook her head.
"It was at that point I saw Sneaker taken down by Sir Archibald Hastings, after the battering from the Wild Cat, he was out for the count in seconds." L'Otter intoned "Not sure it's the done thing for knights of the Realm to go through their victim's pockets though!"


"I got hit hard by the an Der Vilk too" Abi the Shrew rubbed her face, "we were lucky to survive to be honest, that Otter is deadly! Thankfully our infirmary was well stocked and I was patched up easily. But that otter, we need to watch him. At least he took Honey out too."

"Well, him and his whole gang!" L'Otter laughed, "So some good came of the day."

"So, now we are fixed, how are we going to get Sneaker back from an Der Vilk's gang?" Bowie licked a paw.
"Well, the Barbaric Pedestrians took the treasure chest off us, so paying a ransom may be difficult, and we still need muscle, especially as the Barbarics hired a hare knight, and found a flaming sword in the pay chest, so are even better equipped!" L'Otter shrugged.
"Yeah, but..." Snappy interrupted,"they may have got the chest, but it was a little light on it's contents" The squirrel ranger tossed a purse on the table, and several pennies fell out, "twenty pennies anyone?"
Despite depletions, the gang split off to wander, Red visited an old friend who put him in touch with a black marketeer for 15 pennies worth of kit, Lady Door pulled a shift at the pub for 12 pennies, Batty had no luck in the casino (someone picked his pockets on the way out, he claims), L'Otter ran into the alchemist for lots of potions of healing, and Snappy scouted the area for clues. Meanwhile, the three wounded were in convalescent, L'Ouseux lost an eye, but gained an eye patch, Bowie was completely unscathed, but working on a new strength skill, while Abi, weakened by a chest wound needed time in the gang infirmary. With the loss of Berry Town and Squeaker captured, their gang rating had plummeted, but with plenty of cash in the bank, aided by 11 pennies from the magic garden, it was time to go recruiting, especially for a black and white type of mercenary...